Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• GMO Crops: A Few Questians to the Genetic Engineering

  8 February 2010, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh

  In April last year, the Supreme Court, in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Gene Campaign (whose convenor is the internationally known geneticist Dr Suman Sahai), directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to consider the toxicity and allergenicity of GM crops and to post the relevant material on the web so that independent experts could examine these. The Supreme Court asked the GEAC to study also the isolation distance of experimental fields to prevent (…)

• In the Land of Gandhi....

  8 February 2010, by Preeti Chauhan

  (This article was sent on January 4, 2010. We are publishing it in view of the validity of its essential contents. —Editor)
  Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian working amongst the adivasis of Dantewada is sitting on an indefinite fast since December 26, 2009. He had planned a padayatra beginning December 14, 2009, followed by a satyagraha, finally culminating in a jan sunwai (public hearing). He was denied permission to do the padayatra and hold satyagraha in Dantewada for the SP of Dantewada felt (…)

• Jawaharlal Nehru’s Development Vision Has Been Widely Misunderstood

  8 February 2010, by Bharat Dogra

  In the debate on development paradigm Jawaharlal Nehru is frequently presented predominantly as a strong advocate of heavy industry, large dams and big machines - someone who placed big hopes in modern technology. However, a more careful reading of several of his writings presents a different picture of a thoughtful mind troubled by several aspects of modern technology and industrial society, a mind which was prepared to go back hundreds of years in search of more inspiration and insight. (…)

• ’Let Us Not Make Truth A Casualty In This War’

  8 February 2010

  Azad exposes Chidambaram’s Clear-and-Hold operations based on the Stratetgic Hamlet programme pursued by Britain in Malaya and the USA in Vietnam
  The following interview of Comrade Azad, spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, given to the Maoist Information Bulletin on October 19, 2009 reached our office in late December last year. This wideranging interview

• India-Bangladesh: Balance-sheet of the Hasina Visit

  8 February 2010, by Mahendra Ved

  India and Bangladesh will hark back to the past when they jointly celebrate next year the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The Nobel Laureate’s poems are national anthems of both. This decision beautifully underscored the recent New Delhi visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
  President Pratibha Patil hugged Hasina and the spontaneousness of their smiles came out in the pictures published the next day. There was holding of hands with Sonia Gandhi, who met the entire (…)

• Regional Disparities, Inclusive Growth and Displacement in Orissa

  8 February 2010, by Sikta Pati, Sudhakar Panda

  There is enough evidence that Orissa suffers from regional disparities. A Regional Imbalances Enquiry Commission was set up by the State under the chairmanship of Justice S. K. Mohanty to look into Orissa’s regional development imbalances and suggest measures to address the problem. It is reported that the Mohanty Commission made a comprehensive and a district-wise detailed analysis of the problem on the basis of certain well-tested indicators of development and came out with their findings. (…)

• Bringing Great Wall and Taj Mahal Closer

  8 February 2010, by Ravindra Sharma

  TRIBUTE
  Famous Indologist Ji Xianlin and noted China scholar Mira Sinha Bhattacharjea’s departure from the scene in 2009 may be recorded in the “creative history” of India and China as a grievous loss. While Prof Ji passed away on July 11, 2009, Prof Mira died on December 13, 2009, leaving a deep void in China-India relations. Prof Ji was 98 and Prof Mira 80; yet both were “active and alert”. Scholars of Indian Studies in China and Chinese Studies in India know that “passion conquers” the (…)

• Gripping Narrative of a Meaningful Life

  8 February 2010, by Amna Mirza

  BOOK REVIEW
  Life and Times of Shanta Toofani: Story of a Survivor—narrated by Shanta Toofani and synthesised by Dimple (Amreen) Oberoi Vahali, Diamond Oberoi Vahali; Daanish Books, New Delhi; price Rs 195; pages 285.
  The book encapsulates the narratives of life of an unknown person yet someone whose experiences and activities we all would like to hear and learn from: Shanta Toofani. Written in the form of an open-eyed account by the authors, the direct voice of Shanta Toofani in various (…)

• Sino-Russian Ties: Beijing’s Attempts to Rewrite History

  8 February 2010, by Mansoor Ali

  For long the Chinese Government has been relying on plain nationalistic sentiments bordering on chauvinism while pursuing its foreign policy goals.
  Lately there have been some indications of China’s distinct attempts to rewrite the history of its relations with the Soviet Union (whose successor-state today is the Russian Federation).
  First, notwithstanding the fact that all Chinese arms and armaments are of Russian origin, Beijing is presently trying to conceal this basic (…)

• Return to the Basics

  26 December 2009, by SC

  With this issue Mainstream enters the fortyeighth year of its modest existence.
  When this weekly made its appearance in 1962, the editorial in the first issue cogently spelt out its basic objectives in the following words:
  Faith in the people of India is our shield and armour; determination to resist all attempts to withhold the fruits of freedom from them our only weapon. It shall be our endeavour to try relentlessly to demolish the wall of misunderstanding, mutual suspicion and (…)